Development
In 1989, Nintendo and Sony agreed to develop a CD-ROM-based add-on for the Super NES (see Super NES CD-ROM), that would allow for full motion video (FMV) and larger games. However, Nintendo instead signed with Philips to make the add-on, and Sony redesigned their console as the PlayStation. By 1993, Nintendo had abandoned plans for the add-on. As part of dissolving the agreement, Nintendo licensed Philips to use some Nintendo characters for their CD-i console, resulting in three Legend of Zelda games as well as Hotel Mario. Another Mario game, Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, was canceled at the prototype stage. According to Stephen Radosh, Nintendo's only involvement in the development was ensuring that the source material was faithful to the Mario series. Nintendo was reported to be pleased with the finished project and Radosh stated that there were rumors that Nintendo considered bringing the game to their own platforms.
Hotel Mario was developed by Fantasy Factory. Radosh had a concept for a video game that took place in a hotel with various stages and decided to incorporate it into Fantasy Factory's Mario project. The developers and testers tended to be older in age; in an interview with The Black Moon Project, background artist Trici Venola noted one tester was "well past retirement". Since the target audience of children would have faster reflexes, the game was designed to play well for the testers, then sped up. Hotel Mario uses FMV cutscenes to tell its story. The cutscenes were outsourced to Ocatillo Pictures, animated by Terry O'Brien, Kathleen Swain and Bonita Versh. Feeling an early version was "mechanical" and "visually no fun", Venola and art director Jeff Zoern used elements from Disney and J. R. R. Tolkien to enhance the visual style. Illustrations of the stages were composed of several blocks, each with one detail. The first item that Venola created for all hotels was the door. Each building took a week to complete and was designed with a specific theme; for instance, Bowser's hotel uses a gothic design. A "cheese hotel" was proposed during the concept phase and had concept artwork drawn for it, but the development team refused the idea, with Venola calling it "awful", and the artist responsible for it was fired. The game's music was composed by Marc St. Regis. Sound designer and production assistant Jack Levy co-produced alternate versions of the songs. For voice acting, Marc Graue provided the voices of the Mario Brothers and Bowser, while Princess Toadstool was voiced by Jocelyn Benford. Graue was hired through an agency, while Benford was recommended by an employee of Philips Media. She would later marry Michael Ahn, who was one of the producers of Hotel Mario.
Initially, jumping was not going to be a feature of Hotel Mario. According to Stephen Radosh, jumping was added after a suggestion from Hollie Lohff, the daughter of one of the engineers, Thomas Lohff. She played Hotel Mario before its release, and criticized it for not allowing jumping like previous Mario games did.
